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September 15, 2004
You Know You're in the Wrong Country Redux
Dexter Filkins has a rundown of a press conference held by Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, trying to explain why a helicopter fired upon the crowd gathered around an already burning Bradley, killing 13 people -- a journalist and a young girl among them.
The whole thing is sadly predictable. The General claims the pilots attacked only after they took fire from the ground. Except, of course, there is footage this time around.
So, Mr. Filkins explains us the challenge:
General Chiarelli and Colonel McConville addressed those questions in some detail, if not to the satisfaction of everyone present. By so doing, they spelled out the challenges faced by American soldiers in Iraq as they try to carry on in densely populated areas where civilians and insurgents are often impossible to tell apart.
How is that a defense of anything? In fact, that phrase sums up the problem with what we are doing in Iraq. Simply put, if you cannot tell "insurgents" and "civilians" apart then you're in the wrong country. Something is very wrong if the "civilians," "natives," or "non-combatants" --however you want to name the people on whose behalf you claim to be fighting-- are indistguishable from your "enemies.".
Posted by zeynep at September 15, 2004 10:59 PM
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Comments
I love the way you simplify things, Zeynep. "If you can't tell "insurgents" and "civilians" apart then you're in the wrong country." Enough said and to the point. Game, set, and match to Zeynep!!! Thank you.
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at September 16, 2004 02:55 AM
The military had to protect certain technologies onboard the Bradley. Technologies that protect US lives.
This is not a defense of the invasion. only a guess at why they had to destroy the vehicle
Posted by: Maccabee at September 16, 2004 09:22 AM
The best summary I've read.
Posted by: Kevin Hayden at September 16, 2004 04:50 PM
I also on Sunday, saw this film footage of the US helicopter fly overhead, then shooting down from above at all these people (standing around), and kids in the street, and the reporter, and the flying around to the ground camera -- and that reporter report his own death, and I watched this and that reporter just sort of fell into my living room at my feet. And I am sure that reporter must have fallen also into the living rooms of millions and millions of people all around the world -- the new war American image of that little Vietnamese girl running all burned up from another death from above blind American catastrophy.
Posted by: anna missed at September 16, 2004 11:33 PM
"you're in the wrong country"
it should be obvious, but
"you're" are the neocons, the oil magnets, the elite, the war profiteers, the across the board americans at the gas pump, ... "you're" like and demand their creature comforts. how to be worldly, compassionate, humanistic, and a driven consumer is a real conundrum.
put your gas tank on the line if you feel so moved.
they only war for you if you let them.
Posted by: van at September 17, 2004 01:19 AM
this is what happens when you let Ariel Sharon run US foreign policy.
Posted by: paulo at September 17, 2004 05:10 AM
I think it may be other way around. The hardliners can appear prominent only when they have the US military at their disposal. Take that away and it might force moderates into the dialogue, people who are capable of compromise and negotiation.
Posted by: J. Ryan at September 17, 2004 09:00 AM
last I read, it was 16 civilians dead.
And the argument that they needed to destroy the Bradley (to protect sensitive equipment, or whatever) does not hold water, because they DIDN'T HIT THE BRADLEY.
Maybe they are really bad shots? I don't think so.
Ghaith, a reporter for the Guardian and a photographer for Getty Images, was on the scene. He took many photos that support (totally) the Iraqis on the ground description of events.... and they refute what the US authorities had to say about this incident.
If it wasn't on film, nobody would ever know. But having a guy die on air leaves a horrible impression on people, and the first US story that they were getting fired on from the ground is disproved by the on-air video.
It was a war crime.... but only one among many. And I blame the US authorities and the US policies more than the troops. And the US citizens (sadly, I'm one of them) who pay for this evil mess.
Posted by: Susan - USA at September 20, 2004 01:14 AM